


Sing Me a Story

by htbthomas



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other characters make brief appearances, POV Outsider, Ray Finds Out, Reveal, Singing, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28261419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htbthomas/pseuds/htbthomas
Summary: Julie's been talking to the air a lot lately. Ray doesn't expect the explanation he gets. In song, no less.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 16
Kudos: 213
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Sing Me a Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ljparis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta, Mousek!

Ray heard a laugh from the kitchen, enough that it startled him from his book. He settled back immediately—he'd gotten so used to the kids laughing randomly at something on their phone that it didn't strike him as odd. Until— 

"Oh my _god_ , I can't believe you used to dress like that." It was Julie's voice. "Unironically." There was a pause, and then she said, "Yeah well, I have proof right here, so..."

Oh, man. He had a few of those ultra-embarrassing fashion mistakes in his past, too. Curious, Ray set the book down and walked quietly toward the kitchen, poking his head in to see what specific fashion mistake Julie was talking about.

He frowned when he saw the scene. Julie was sitting on one of the [stools around the kitchen island], holding her phone up to show... no one. Strange. "You see?" she said, making Ray frown in puzzlement. "Proof."

Then, though he was sure he hadn't made a sound, Julie stiffened and whirled around to look at him, face oddly blank. "What?" she mouthed, pointing to the AirPods in one ear. 

Huh, just a phone call. She'd been on the phone a lot lately—didn't kids think phone calls were for old people? "Nothing," he mouthed back, waving at her with one hand to keep talking.

Julie burst out laughing again. "Right?"

* * *

It was not the only odd behavior he'd noticed lately, especially since she started her new band. She spent a lot of time alone in the studio, or in the backyard, or in her room—talking to the air. He'd checked for a phone, for earbuds, for that holo projector, but there was nothing. If she noticed him, suddenly she acted as if she'd not been having a full one-sided conversation with the air, but when he caught her doing things like this...

"It's nice, isn't it?" Julie's feet were swinging slowly back and forth as she sat on the wrought-iron bench. "To be able to hold your hand."

Ray looked more closely, squinting to see. Julie's hand rested, palm up, the fingers curled inward as if she was really holding someone's hand. But, as usual, there was no one there on the bench with her. Her head tilted to the side, and she blushed. Ray didn't know what was going on, and it was starting to concern him. But Julie was so happy these days, finally coming out of the funk she'd been in for so long after her mother's death. He turned away from the window and there was Carlos, standing beside him, gazing out of the same window. How long had he been there?

Outside, Julie giggled, and Carlos' face twisted into a fond smile. "Nice to see her so happy," he said.

"I was thinking the same thing..." Ray agreed, though he wasn't sure that he and Carlos _were_ thinking the same thing. 

"Ah, young love," Carlos said, his voice as wistful as a middle-aged man. Then he walked off before Ray could ask what the heck that meant.

* * *

It was the sound of the piano that drew him this time. Julie was working on something new, it sounded like—it was not one of the songs she'd been playing in the gigs he'd taken her to. It was slow, emotional, filled with words of hope. Then the broken chords arpeggiated to the top of the keyboard and faded away, and she said, "Well, what do you think?"

Who was she talking to? Someone on the phone again? Flynn? 

He didn't hear anyone answer, but after about ten seconds Julie said, "You think so? Maybe. From the second chorus?" Then she started to play again.

The door to the studio was cracked open just slightly, so he crept over to peek through. As far as he could see, there was no one else there, no phone on the lid of the piano. Julie swayed as she played, so similar to what her mom had done that it almost stopped his heart. She sang the words he'd heard earlier, but suddenly there was another voice, and—

—poof, Luke was sitting on the bench beside Julie, his voice harmonizing with hers so sweetly it was as if they'd been practicing this song for years, not just this minute. 

Did she have the holo projector on? Where was the rest of the band? 

Even though he didn't really understand what was going on, he got caught up in the beauty of the song, even as Julie's and Luke's heads came toward each other as they held the last note, and Luke's lips angled toward hers...

Whoa whoa whoa! How was that even—?

Julie whipped her head toward the door and Luke's eyes went wide before he disappeared. Ray didn't mean to say those words aloud, but he must have. "Sorry, honey," he said, pushing the door open to come inside. "Your singing was so lovely and I didn't mean to intrude on that..." Moment? With a holographic boy? "What was that anyway?" He searched the floor, the ceiling, the walls, for any sign of a projector.

Julie bit her lip. "Um..." She turned her head toward the bench where Luke had been a minute ago, and her mouth opened in shock. "Really? I don't know..."

Ray shook his head, worry clutching his heart in a painful fist. Now she was talking to phantoms, like the name of her band. "Honey... are you okay? You've been working so hard on your songs, and maybe you're lying awake at night thinking about them, not getting enough rest. Your mom used to do that, too, you know. I could make you a cup of hot cocoa..." He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Julie ignored Ray's hand and talked to her phantom again. "I know we talked about it, but I thought we were gonna wait until, you know." She listened to something for a moment, and then said, "Okay, what should I play?" Then nodded.

She turned back to the piano and started playing a series of chords with a simple bass line, nothing he recognized, just a general C-Am-F-G repeating progression. "Start when you're ready..." she sang.

"I'm ready," sang Luke, appearing back on the bench beside Julie. "This feels really weird," he continued in song, "Like an opera or something."

"I guess it does," Julie sang back. 

Ray had no idea what was going on, but he shrugged and sang what he was thinking, "What exactly is going on here?"

"Dad, you don't have to sing," Julie sang. Then she let out a laugh and spoke, though she kept playing the chord progression. "Actually I don't have to sing, either."

"But I like it when you sing," Luke sang.

Julie blushed, and sang, "I know you do." If this wasn't the weirdest courtship ritual Ray had ever seen...

"Anyway, it's just me," Luke sang, focusing back on Ray again. "You can't see me unless I'm singing or playing an instrument. No one can." He looked toward Julie. "Except your daughter."

Wait. This didn't make any sense. Ray's brows creased in confusion. "No one? Not even your families back wherever... it is that you live?" Luke shook his head, in time to the beat.

"Actually..." Julie said. "It isn't so much _where_ he lives..."

"It's living at all..." Luke sang. He seemed to swallow. "Mr. Molina. Sir. I'm a ghost."

What the heck? Ray needed a chair. Instead, he rocked back and braced himself on the wall. 

Julie threw a concerned glance at Luke, but she didn't get up, she didn't stop playing. "Dad, are you okay?"

"Are you kids playing a joke or something?" That had to be it. "You're going to post it on TikTok for laughs later? I remember the way Flynn was going on and on about 'social media presence' and all of that..."

"I know it seems hard to believe, Dad, but it's true," Julie said, and she had this look on her face that he'd seen over and over since she was a little girl. She believed it, completely. She was telling the truth—as she knew it at least. "Dad, over there, in my backpack, there's a CD. Sunset Curve. Look at the photo, the liner notes."

Julie didn't stop playing as Ray walked over to her backpack and found the CD inside, tucked between a notebook and her pencil case. Sitting on the sofa, he opened the CD case. The CD itself looked well-played, the liner notes faded with time. He was sure he'd never heard of this band before. But the faces on the band photo were very familiar to him - Luke, Reggie, Alex... and one face that wasn't in Julie's band, but seemed... familiar. He frowned again, and looked up. "Who's—?"

"Let me tell you the story..." Luke sang, leaving the piano bench and walking over to sit on the arm of the sofa. For the next several minutes, Luke—with interludes from Julie—sang to him the story of the rise and tragic fall of Sunset Curve. How he and Julie had met, how they'd discovered she could see them, and so could others when they were playing music. How they were solid to Julie now, a recent thing. And how Luke and Julie started to fall for each other...

The whole time he listened to the story, Ray turned the case over in his hands, realizing that even though he hadn't even heard of Sunset Curve, he'd definitely heard of most of the songs on the demo, like "Long Weekend." He and Rose used to dance to that song, the same summer she introduced him to... "Trevor Wilson."

Luke stopped singing his story mid-sentence and Julie's fingers stumbled to a stop on the keys. He looked up in surprise, to see Luke's pained expression. Then he disappeared.

"Wait, no, what's wrong?" Ray asked, tossing the CD case to the side and standing.

Julie sighed. "Trevor Wilson? He stole Luke's songs after the guys died. He got famous off them."

"Really?" Ray picked up the CD case again and studied the photo. Now he knew where he'd seen the fourth member. It was a slightly younger version of Trevor, maybe a year or two before Rose had introduced them. And somehow, with that small detail, the truth hit him for real. "So. You've been writing music with, playing in a band with, spending all this time with... a bunch of ghosts? _Literal_ phantoms?"

Julie gave him a shrug.

"And now you're... dating one of them?"

She bit her lip, then gave him a nod.

He was glad he was sitting down now. This was... a lot.

But was this okay? Ray wanted to tell her no, no way, this is insane. You're a teenage girl, with your whole life ahead of you, and Luke's... an actual ghost from 1995. But then he remembered how Julie was smiling and happy, singing and writing music again, for the first time since her mother had died. He remembered that her new boyfriend was responsible for a lot of this. But... how was this gonna work?

He said the only thing he could say. "If it makes you happy." Julie nodded, still playing, and Luke appeared to kiss her sweetly on the cheek.

Suddenly, Reggie popped into visibility. "Oh, it definitely does," he sang.

Alex followed right after, joining Reggie in harmony. "Totally...."

"Cut it out, you guys!" Luke sang-shouted at his friends, and Julie just giggled.

Ray sat back and watched it all with a bit of disbelief. And happiness. Yeah, that was happiness.


End file.
